International artist Alyssa Rodriguez is one of the finest players of the nyckelharpa, the keyed fiddle, on the East Coast. She has studied nyckelharpa at Sibelius Academy and with many riksspellmän (master Swedish folk musicians) in Sweden and at Nordic Fiddles and Feet (NFF). Alyssa studied at the Eric Sahlström Institute, the all nyckelharpa workshop intensive at Ekebyholm Castle in Sweden, and regularly sells out shows. She has appeared in Nordstjernan magazine and Nyckelharpan in Sweden, and released an all nyckelharpa album of traditional and newly composed music in December 2022 titled “Postcards.”

Raised next to a farm in the woods of Connecticut, USA, Alyssa Rodriguez has always admired nature and its natural beauty and sounds. She earned her bachelor’s degree of music in music composition from Ithaca College in central New York, where she began immersing herself in fiddle music and playing for dances. She took Scandinavian fiddle lessons from Laurie Hart, and Irish fiddle lessons with Tim Ball. Alyssa is a certified Suzuki Violin instructor in Pre-Twinkle through Book 4 and studied with Carrie Reuning-Hummel of Ithaca Talent Education, as well as Alice Kanack of the Creative Ability Development method (CAD).

In 2021-2022, Alyssa completed a Fulbright Fellowship master’s exchange year in Helsinki, Finland at the Sibelius Academy in Folk Music. Her research focused on Finnish and Nordic folk music and new concepts in folk music improvisation. She has presented at Fulbright’s Forum on Education, Innovation, Science, and Art; for the Finger Lakes Finns; and two lecture-recitals at St. Olaf College and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Alyssa continued her studies in Swedish folk music in Tobo, Sweden at the Eric Sahlström Institute 2023-2024, where she studied nyckelharpa and the Swedish fiddle music tradition full time with master musicians. She researched and completed her first book on Nordic fiddle music titled “Tales and Tunes,” available for purchase March 2025 (limited edition 100 copies).

Alyssa continually seeks out professional development opportunities to grow as an artist and an educator; she has studied at the Global Musician Workshop at New England Conservatory in Boston, Malung Folkhögskola in Malung, Sweden, and at the summer fiddle course with Siobhan Peoples at the University of Limerick.

Alyssa’s music has been featured in concert and on the radio on WXXI's HomeStage, in CITY Newspaper, Floated Magazine, on WRUR's Open Tunings, KXCI-FM in Arizona, and at the Fulbright Finland Award Ceremony 2022. She plays fiddle and nyckelharpa with various bands including Irish punk-rock band Sisters of Murphy, swing jazz band The Gregory Street Vagabonds, in historic 19th century costume playing fiddle at the Genesee Village Country Museum in Mumford, New York, and nyckelharpa with the Medusa Quartet (Canada) on U.S. tours as of 2026.

Her compositions have won 1st prize in Call for Scores composition competitions, and she has been commissioned by New York Council on the Arts funded grants to write a children’s orchestral composition about the Kalevala called Kalevala for Kids, and write for the Mount Hope World Singers.

In 2026, Alyssa received a New York Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant to study the family tradition of Sophie Orzechowski MacRae. Alyssa and Sophie will put on two Scandinavian dances in Upstate New York in 2026, as well as several concerts showcasing New York Scandinavian music.